"I Want to Invite My Co-Workers to My Wedding, But It's Getting a Liiiiitle Out of Hand!"

I started a new job at a small office a few months ago. I adore my new co-workers, and I'd love to add them to the guest list for my wedding, which is next summer.

Here's the dilemma: Right now, my guest list has around 100 people on it. I work with 11 women, and I want to invite all of them. Seven of them women are married or have a longtime partner (I haven't met any of them) so if I invite plus-ones, I'm up to 18 people. Also, some of them women have kids, so if I invite them, too, 11 people becomes more like 40 people. I am inviting other guests' kids, but I've never met my co-workers' kids—and there are a LOT of them.

On top of that, we have a five-person clerical staff, but I don't know any of them well. They work on a rotating schedule so I only see them occasionally and I have almost no interaction with them. If I invite the original 11 women, do I have to invite the clerical staff (and their husbands and kids) too? Like I said, I have almost no interaction with them, but I don't want it to be awkward if I see them in the lunch room and my wedding comes up and they realize everyone in the office was invited except them.

The size of the venue and budget aren't issues. I could accommodate and afford the 50 or so extra guests if necessary, but I feel like it's getting a little out of hand. What's the protocol?!

Here are my thoughts:

It's incredibly sweet of you to try to make room for everyone, but yes, I agree that would be a little crazy if your 100-person wedding became 150, and you hadn't met almost a third of the people on your guest list.

If I were in your shoes, I'd invite the original 11 women and their husbands or longtime partners. You're not obligated to invite anyone to your wedding—especially anyone you haven't met—but weddings tend to be more fun with a date, so as long as you can afford the plus-ones, I'd let them have 'em. But I don't think you need to go so far as to invite their TWENTY or so kids. And I'm sure they'll understand, even if there are other kids running around.

As far as the clerical staff goes, sure, there could be an awkward interaction or two. But it sounds like you wouldn't expect an invite to any of their weddings, so I really, really don't think you need to invite them to yours.

Ladies, what do you think? Should Jill just invite the 50-ish extra people to avoid awkwardness? What would you do? And are you inviting co-workers to your wedding?

I worked for a company of about 600 when I got married, and I think I only invited two of my co-workers!